Balustrade of passenger conveyor

ABSTRACT

The balustrade comprises glass panels arranged on opposite sides of the passenger conveyor steps circulating endlessly, guide frames each of which has a U-shaped recess and is mounted on and bonded to the upper edge portion of the glass panel by adhesive, with the upper edge portion being inserted in the U-shaped recess so that both ends of the glass panel project from the ends of the guide frame, joint frames each of which has the same cross-section as the guide frame and is disposed in a gap formed between the adjacent guides by arranging the glass panel with the guide frame in an end-to-end relation, coupling plates disposed on both sides of the guide frames and joint frame to sandwich them and means for fastening the coupling plates. The guide frames and the joint frame, which support handrails circulating endlessly, are firmly and easily secured to the glass panels with simple construction.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to a balustrade of a passenger conveyor such asan escalator, a moving sidewalk, and so on, and more particularly to abalustrade of a passenger conveyor, which balustrade has a simplifiedconstruction.

A passenger conveyor has held an important position as indispensabletransportation equipment inside a building and its use has beenwidespread up to this date. However, extremely diversified needs existat present for the passenger conveyor, such as reduced powerconsumption, improved safety, a design having a side transparentportion, and so forth.

The construction of a typical passenger conveyor comprises a main bodyframe supported by the floor of a building, balustrades supported by themain body frame, handrails, and steps arranged and circulated endlesslyin synchronism with the handrails.

One of conventional balustrades comprises glass panels supported by themain body frame, a handrail frame unit supported by the glass panelthrough the packing for protecting the glass panel, and a guide securedto the handrail frame unit to guide the handrails. The handrail frameunit holds illumination appliances at the outside of the glass panel sothat the handrail frame unit is much wider in width than the handrailand projects a little both into the inside, that is, the passenger sideand into the outside beyond the side faces of the handrail, about 10 mmand 50 mm, respectively.

This conventional passenger conveyor balustrade has several problems tobe solved with respect to safty and design.

From the aspect of safety, it may happen that children can notcompletely grip the handrail. Namely, the height of the handrail fromthe steps is set to be from 650 to 750 mm to prevent the fall ofpassengers, and this height is suitable for the passengers above theschool age. In the case of the children, however, a part of the handcomes into contact with the corner projecting inside the handrail frameas a problem besides the problem of height, and they can not easily gripthe handrail. If a child attempts to grip the handrail under such anunstable state, the child's legs approach the skirt guard and willsometimes be caught around the steps. This is extremely dangerous.

From the aspect of design, there is the problem that the powder producedby abrasion of the handrail is piled on the handrail frame. This powderis a mixture of the powder produced by the abrasion. lost is due tofriction of iron and rubber materials used for the driving system of thehandrail and a material of the canvas portion. The feel of dirtiness andpossible pollution of the clothes of passengers by this powder can notbe neglected in the handrail equipment as public transportationfacilities.

Further, demands are increasing recently for the balustrade having awide transparency design and reduced power consumption without theillumination appliances.

When the illumination appliances are to be removed, it is a customarypractice to cover the inside of the handrail frame with closing platebut not to change the members for the handrail frame. In the passengerconveyor without the illumination applicances, the intensity ofillumination of the ceiling illumination is generally increased toinsure sufficient service for passengers in order particularly to makethe step portion sufficiently bright. From the aspect of lighting,however, the dimensions and construction of the conventional balustradeare extremely disadvantageous.

When the brightness of the ceiling illumination is to be introduced tothe steps through the glass panel, the projecting dimension and theheight of the handrail frame restrict the angle of the incidence of therays of light. This state is particularly serious when the surroundingsof the passenger conveyor are covered with a screen or the like, and theintensity of illumination indispensable for the safty of passengers cannot be secured from time to time.

U.S. Pat. No. 3,989,133 and Japanese Laid-open Publication No.108482/1976 can be cited as example of prior art. In these prior art, inwhich a guide frame with a U-shaped recess is mounted on the upper edgeportion of a glass panel through a flexible groove-shaped member, someof the above-mentioned problems are solved, but some are still leftunsolved. For example, a lower half of the guide frame is exposedoutside from the handrail, so that the exposed guide frame shortens thetransparent portion of the glass panel. It is necessary that thegroove-shaped member should always apply a relatively large force to theguide member and the glass panel. Even a little deformation of legportions of the guide member loosens the fastening of the guide frameand the glass panel, therefore, the leg portions need be thick. Thegroove-shaped member is necessary to keep such a force for a long timewithout being weakened.

U.S. patent application, Ser. No. 406,787 filed on Aug. 10, 1983, alsodiscloses a balustrade improved on safety and design as above-mentioned.The balustrade comprises a glass panel and a guide frame mounted on theglass panel for guiding the handrail through a guide member. The guideframe has a guide member support portion and leg portions defining arecess for receiving the upper portion of the glass panel. The glasspanel is inserted in the recess of the guide frame through a packing andthe glass panel and the guide frame are fastened by a plurality ofthrough-bolts. Therefore, the glass panel and packing have many notchportions for allowing the bolts to pass therethrough, and the guidemember has a plurality of through-holes at the leg portions.

This balustrade involves the following problems yet to be solved.Namely, unexpected external force acts upon the handrail upper sideportion to separate the glass panel from the guide frame. Therefore, alarge number of screws must be used to cope with this external force.This force is caused by unintentional movement of passengers. Use ofsuch a larger number of screws will increase the assembly cost and labornecessary for maintenance and inspection. Other external force is causedby inversion of the direction of the handrail and acts on the screwportions where the handrail inverts. This force further increases thenumber of screws. The notch portions of the glass panel are likely tocome into contact with the metal screws, and the glass panel may bebroken eventually.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An object of the present invention is to provide a balustrade of apassenger conveyor in which a guide frame for guiding a handrail can befixed firmly and easily to a transparent panel with a simplifiedconstruction.

According to the present invention, a balustrade of a passenger conveyoris characterized in that a guide frame for guiding a handrail is thin inthickness and has a U-shaped recess mounted on and bonded to the upperedge portion of a glass panel thereby to provide a glass panel assemblyin which both ends of the glass panel project outside from the guideframe; and a plurality of such glass panel assemblies are arranged in anend-to-end relation to form a gap between the adjacent guide frames, andare joined one to another through joint frames which are disposed in thegap to be mounted on the projected ends of the glass panels.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a side view of a part of a passenger conveyor according to thepresent invention;

FIG. 2 is a sectional view, taken along a line II--II of FIG. 1, showinga section of a balustrade and handrail;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a glass panel having a guide framebonded by adhesive;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the glass panel having spacers mountedthereon;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a joint portion of the balustrade;

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a joining portion of the glass panelswith guide frame;

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of a joint frame;

FIG. 8 is a side view of the FIG. 5; and

FIG. 9 is a sectional view of the balustrade taken along a line IX--IXof FIG. 1 or a line IX'--IX' of FIG. 8.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

An embodiment of the present invention is described hereunder referringto FIGS. 1 to 9.

In FIG. 1, a passenger conveyor is supported on the floor F by its mainbody frame 1. Steps 3 (only two are illustrated) are arranged in themain body frame 1 to circulate endlessly. A pair of balustrades aredisposed above the main body frame 1 for guiding the upper run ofhandrails 5 circulating in synchronism with the steps 3. Each of thebalustrates includes lower balustrade members of inner and outer decksand skirts, a plurality of glass panels 7 aligned in an end-to-endrelation and rising from the decks 9, and guide means secured to theupper portion of the glass panel 7 for guiding the handrails 5.

The guide means, as shown in FIG. 2, is constructed of guide members 13of nylon, a guide frame 15 holding the guide members 13 and secured tothe glass panel 7 with adhesive 17, and a coupling means (laterdescribed).

The guide frame 15 is elongated axially and has a guide member supportportion 152 extending horizontally, a pair of leg portions 150 fordefining a U-shaped recess 151 for receiving the upper edge portion of aglass panel 7, a pair of horizontal projections 153, projecting outsideand inside, respectively, from the leg portions 150 and formingrectangular spaces 157 at both sides of the recess 151. Each of theprojections has a small projection 154 so that the leg portion is morerigid and provides a wide face facing the handrail 5. The guide frame 15is further provided with a pair of grooves 156 for fitting guide members13. First, one end of the guide member is fitted over the supportportion 152 and then the other end of the guide member 13 is fitted inthe groove 156. Thereafter the guide member is secured by several screws(not shown) in a conventional manner.

A typical example of length L of the glass panel 7 is about 1.5-2 m, andthe length of the guide frame 15 is 2 La (see FIG. 3) shorter than theglass panel length L, so that when the glass panel 7 is inserted in theU-shaped recess of the guide frame 15, both ends of the top edge of theglass panel 7 are left uncovered by an amount La as shown in FIG. 3. Twoupper end corners of the glass panel 7 are cut off to form inclinedsurface portions 701. The length La is about 10-30 mm.

The guide frame 15 is bonded to the upper edge portion of the glasspanel 7 with adhesive 17. As adhesive 17, a silicone type or urethanetype adhesive is used, and the former is preferable, which hasproperties of sufficient bonding force and proper resiliency. Forexample, a silicon type adhesive (Sealant 70, trade name of adhesivemade by Shinetsu Industrial Chemical Co. in Japan) has bonding force ofabout 30-60 kg for a guide frame of 30 mm length bonded to the glasspanel. The joining work is carried out in such a fashion that a suitablequantity of adhesive 17 is first put into the U-shaped recess 151 andthe upper end of the glass panel 7, that has been degreasedsufficiently, is then located to keep the same gaps relative to theframe at both sides of the glass panel 7 and gradually inserted into therecess 151 to finally attain the state shown in FIG. 2. Preferably, thegap between the glass panel 7 and the guide frame 15 is about 2 mmaround the upper edge portion of the glass panel having a thickness ofabout 10 mm.

To form a substantially uniform layer of adhesive between the glasspanel 7 and the guide frame 15 in the U-shaped recess 151, it ispreferable to use spacer 25 as shown in FIG. 4. The spacers 25 have athickness of about 2 mm and length of about 10 mm, and they are disposedon the upper edge portion of the glass panel 7 with intervals beforejoining. A typical example of the application of the spacers 25 is suchthat each of two spacers is disposed at a portion spaced about 100 mmfrom the axial end of the glass panel 7, and another spacer, preferably,is disposed between the two spacers 25. The glass panel 7 with thespacers 25 is inserted in the U-shaped recess 151 of the guide frame 15after the recess is filled with the adhesive 17, so that the adhesivelayer is made uniform around the edge portion of the glass panel 7.

Each glass panel 7 and each guide frame 15 that are joined together asshown in FIG. 3 form a pair, that is, a glass panel assembly which is aglass panel with guide frame, and a plurality of pairs are disposed inthe longitudinal direction of the passenger conveyor and at apredetermined position. The joint portion is shown in FIGS. 5 to 9, andcoupling means for coupling two glass panel assemblies is constituted ofa joint frame 19, coupling plates 21 and fastening means such as a screw23 or a cotter pin. As shown in FIG. 6, the glass panels 7 are disposedin an end-to-end relation with a gap d of 2 to 4 mm between the glasspanels 7 so that the inclined surface portions 701 form a space largeenough to allow the screw 23 to pass therethrough, and gap Lb, betweenguide frames 15, which is twice La in FIG. 3 plus the gap d and and isabout 20-60 mm. The joint frame 19 has exactly the same cross-sectionalshape as of the guide frame 15, a length equal to gap Lb, and throughhole 190a for the screw 23. Each of the pairs of the glass panels withthe guide frames has a different gap (La) from one another, for example,by errors in manufacturing the glass panel and the guide frame,arrangement of the glass panels, etc.. For this reason, the length ofthe joint frame 19 is adjusted by reducing the end of the joint frame19. In order to make it easy to reduce the end, the joint frame 19 hasinclined end portion 198, which is made by reducing the corner, andperpendicular end portion 199 which is perpendicular to the longitudinaldirection of the joint frame 19, at both ends. The perpendicular endportion 199 is reduced to adjust the length of the joint frame 19, andis fitted to the end of the guide frame 15 without forming anysubstantial gap therebetween, at the lower face of the projection of theguide frame. The joint frame 19 also is filled with adhesive and mountedon the end portions of the glass panels 7. Preferably, short spacerssimilar to the spacer 25 are mounted on the end portions of the glasspanels, and the joint frame 19 may be inserted in gap Lb between theguide frames 15. The pair of coupling plates 21 have substantially thesame cross-section as the rectangular spaces 157 of the guide frames 15and the similar spaces of the joint frame 19. The length Lc (FIG. 8) ofeach of the coupling plates 21 is longer than Lb and 50-100 mm. One ofthe coupling plates 21 has a through-hole hole for the screw 23 and theother a threaded hole. The coupling plates 21 are inserted in therectangular space 157 to sandwich the guide frames 15 and the jointframe 19, and are fastened by the screw 23, as shown in FIGS. 8 and 9,thereby firmly to fix the joint frame 19 and the guide frames 15 to theglass panels 7.

A packing or the adhesive is packed into the cavity or gap formed in thejoint frame 19 and between the joint frame 19 and the guide frame 15 toclose the same. According to this joint structure, even when push-upforce concentratedly occurs on the joint frame 19 as represented by anarrow A in FIG. 8, the force is dispersed towards the guide frames 15 asrepresented by arrows B and C because the coupling plates are fitted inthe recess 157 of the guide frames and recess 197 of the joint frame,respectively. Accordingly, the joint frame 19 does not easily come off,and the reliability of the joint of the glass panel 7 to the guide frameat the joint portion can be increased drastically.

On the other hand, a specific contrivance is applied to the handraillower side members, too, in the present invention.

At the end portion of the handrail equipment or balustrade at which thegreatest peel force acts upon the glass panel 7 and the guide frame 15fixed to each other by the adhesive as shown in FIG. 1, the end of theguide frame 15 is fixed to a part of the main body frame 1 by the screw11 in order to withstand the force which is represented by an arrow Mb.

The construction described above has the following effects: The assemblyand maintenance and inspection can be extremely simplified because theguide frame and the glass panel are treated as a unit and many screwsand notches are not used. The reliability of the joint portion isimproved with respect to safety and strength. The glass panel isprotected by the adhesive, and the vibration resulting from the travelof the handrail can be damped. This means also that any impact frompassengers can be mitigated. The construction of the balustrade cansufficiently cope with the external force resulting from the inversionof the handrail.

The balustrade has a design having a wide transparent portion and highsafety.

What is claimed is:
 1. A passenger conveyor, comprising:a main bodyframe; a plurality of steps supported by said main body frame, connectedtogether and mounted on said frame to circulate endlessly; a pair ofhandrails driven in synchronism with said steps and in the samedirection as said steps; transparent panels supported by said main frameand disposed on opposite sides of said steps to form side walls; guidemeans for said handrail being provided on the upper portions of saidpanels, including a guide frame having a guide member support portionand leg portions, said leg portions defining therebetween a U-shapedrecess; adhesive means mounting said guide frame on the upper edgeportion of said transparent panel to provide a panel assembly in whichboth ends of said panel axially project beyond the guide frame that ismounted on the panel; a plurality of said panel assemblies being mountedon said body frame in an end-to-end relation thereby to form an axialgap between adjacent guide frames; and coupling means, for couplingadjacent ones of said panel assemblies, said coupling means including ajoint frame disposed in said gap.
 2. A passenger conveyor according toclaim 1, wherein each of said guide frames is shorter in length, asmeasured in the conveying direction, than the panel on which it ismounted.
 3. The passenger conveyor according to claim 2, wherein saidjoint frames have the same cross-sectional shape as said guide frames.4. The passenger conveyor according to claim 3, wherein the leg portionsof said joint frame have aligned apertures, and said coupling meansfurther includes a threaded fastener passing through said alignedapertures for clamping the leg portions of the joint frame together. 5.The conveyor as defined in claim 4, wherein each of said panels hasinclined surface portions formed at both upper corner portions, saidfastening means is passed through a space defined by adjacent ones ofsaid inclined surface portions of adjacent ones of said glass panelsdisposed in an end-to-end relation.
 6. The conveyor as defined in claim5, wherein said guide frame has projections extending from the terminalend of said leg portions respectively to engage the handrail; saidcoupling means having coupling members overlapping each of said jointframes and the adjacent guide frames; said fastener means passingthrough said coupling members; said projections, said guide membersupport portions and said leg portions form spaces on both sides of saidleg portions for receiving said coupling members.
 7. The conveyor asdefined in claim 6, wherein spacers are disposed between said guideframe and said glass panel in said U-shaped recess of said guide frameto provide a uniform gap between each panel and the interior surfaces ofthe U-shaped recess for keeping said adhesive means substantiallyuniform.
 8. The conveyor as defined in claim 7, wherein said joint framehas inclined durface end portions and perpendicular end portions, andsaid perpendicular end portions are in contact with respective ends ofadjacent ones of said guide frame to facilitate shortening of said jointframe by removing portions of said perpendicular end portion to obtain aclose fit of said joint frame between adjacent guide frames.
 9. Theconveyor as defined in claim 4, wherein at least one of the two terminalpanels of the end-to-end relation of panels has a curved side wallremote from the other panels, the curved side wall extending from theupper portion of the panel to the lower portion of the panel, the guideframe of said one panel extending over the curved side wall and having aterminal end fixed to said main body frame.
 10. The conveyor as definedin claim 4, wherein said adhesive is of a silicone type.
 11. Theconveyor as defined in claim 4, wherein said threaded fastener is ascrew.
 12. The conveyor as defined in claim 4, wherein said guide framehas a small projection at the outside end of said leg portions,respectively, said small projection faces the handrail with a gap. 13.The conveyor as defined in claim 4, wherein each of said panels hasrecess portions formed at both upper corner portions, whereby adjacentpanels together form an aperture aligned with said apertures in said legportions for passing therethrough said fastener means.
 14. The conveyoras defined in claim 13, wherein said upper edge portions of each panelare continuous and uninterrupted from one corner portion to the othercorner portion with the exception of said corner portion recesses, saidadhesive means forming the only connection between said guide frames andsaid panels.
 15. The conveyor as defined in claim 14, wherein said guideframe has projections extending from the terminal end of said legportions respectively to engage the handrail; said coupling means havingcoupling members overlapping each of said joint frames and the adjacentguide frames; said fastener means passing through said coupling members;said projections, said guide member support portions and said legportions form recesses defining spaces on both sides of said legportions for receiving said coupling members.
 16. The conveyor asdefined in claim 15, said coupling members being rigid platescooperating with said recesses so that an upward force on any one of thejoint frame and adjacent portions of the guide frames will betransmitted through respective recesses and coupling plates to the otherframes.
 17. The conveyor as defined in claim 1, wherein spacers aredisposed between said guide frame and said glass panel in said U-shapedrecess of said guide frame to provide a uniform gap between each paneland the interior surfaces of the U-shaped recess for keeping saidadhesive means substantially uniform.